More adventures

So maybe you already visited Tori's blog, but if not, I'll just say, today was a great day because I got to go visit my friend and yours, Tori, at her brand new house, which is a beautiful place just East of Dallas. It was a great sanity check in the world of watching six children. I hope you friends of mine are jealous that I got to be the first to visit. Her kids are as cute as ever, and even Emery, who was scared of me at first, warmed up to me in the end and was flashing his priceless little grin. He is a cutie. Thanks for letting me come visit Tori, I wouldn't have missed it for anything. Hopefully we'll see you in our area in the next couple months!

Adventures in Babysitting

Well, I am at the end of day one of this adventure of visiting/watching my nieces and nephews while their parents are on vacation for a week. Actually, not quite at the end because six of the seven children under my watchful eye are still awake. But it's still 8:13, so, they pretty much have until midnight to fall asleep. With any luck, I may only have to yell "GO TO SLEEP!" a couple of times. It's probably my own fault they are chatting away, as I did allow them to sleep together. Threats of separating them do little to hush them, but it doesn't bother me too much. I think I probably was the same way with my cousins. They just really like each other and are excited to be together.

This is what we did today: I actually started out the day by running six miles, all the while wondering what the kids were doing. Chad was luckily nearby and helped with crowd control. The nephews were impressed with my distance and ran along the treadmill in place for a while. Then, we went on a picnic to the park, the oldest cousin' idea, who also made the lunches for everyone-- no small task for a ten year old to make and pack nine lunches (five cousins plus our family of four). Later in the afternoon, the cousins put on a circus/ballet for me and Chad. I wished I had my camera. The boys were on the swingset swinging around and the girls were in frilly tutus and fancy dress ups jumping on the trampoline to the music of a Tchaikovsky CD they supplied.

Now, I'm torn deciding which of the following experiences was the highlight of the day, maybe you all can help me decide. By the time bathtime rolled around, I was feeling pretty confident and amazed that everything had gone as smoothly as it had... everyone cooperated today, they were helpful with the little ones, (the little ones are three kids three and under), they were obedient to the things I asked, there was really not too much drama. But then, maybe the little ones sensed it had been too easy for me. There had to be some sort of snag to the perfect first day. And that was when the one year old pooped in the tub with two of her siblings in it. That was fun. Amidst my dry heaving, I used a cup to net the offending floaties (and sinkies) and I flushed them down. I got the kids out, drained the water, cleaned the tub out, sprayed Lysol all over the many tub toys that were also victims, filled the tub back up, and put the three kids, who had been running around the house naked, back in and cleaned them up. That was pretty fun, but I hope it doesn't happen again. The other contender for the highlight of my day was when an older cousin came to me and said, "my tooth hurts!" and I look in and see that it is extremely loose and ready to come out. I knew it was loose before but apparently whatever we ate today, maybe it was the popcorn, made it so loose that it needed to come out. I tried the easy way out and asked her if she could pull it out herself; ie, "you just hang on to it like this, and YANK IT!" is what I told her, but it was no use. She is much like I was when I had a loose tooth, meaning, just a bit squeamish about ripping your own tooth away from the gums. It became my mom or dad's job, to my recollection, to do that. So, seeing that she wouldn't do it, and her parents were gone, I was resigned to my fate. Without much fanfare, I grabbed her tooth, and gave it a couple twists and a pull and out it came. It was a little bit trickier than I thought it would be, on account of its tiny size and also slippery-ness. Luckily, she said I didn't hurt her "too much." Also, luckily she knows the tooth fairy is her dad, she informed us, so we don't have to worry about being sneaky, we can just give her some of her dad's money. :) I was thinking, you know, hey, while I was at it, I might as well give myself some of his money too.

So, there you go, my first adventures. I might get to top those two momentarily as one cousin just came downstairs and announced he felt like he had to throw up. OH dear. Say some prayers everyone.

Alphabet Sounds

This is a song that Aubrey sings a lot around the house, and it's just one of those little things I want to remember.

Stolle Look-alike Meter

MyHeritage: Look-alike Meter - Family history - Family websites

This is a funny little thing I came across on a friend's blog. Check it out, it's kind of fun. I was surprised at the results. I have no idea why they say both kids look like me... I've always thought they both looked like Chad.

Stolle Look-alike Meter

MyHeritage: Look-alike Meter - Pedigree - Ancestors

Brother's First Real Haircut

Chad threatened to cut Drew's hair himself if I didn't taken him somewhere to do it, and let's face it, I knew it was pretty nappy. I tried to trim it myself several times but he moved so much I was afraid I'd jab his head with the scissors. So I took him to the friendly neighborhood Clip Its hair salon where they did it for me, and he was SO good.

Here's the before picture, it isn't good I know, but I was trying to sit him on the chair alone and get him to look while Aubrey was eating Skittles, and I think he wanted some. Right after this picture, he fell off the chair on the tiled floor while lunging for Skittles. I am not going to win the Motherhood award for that one, I know.

So here's before:



Here's during... my sister Lisa took this picture, as they had me hold him, so I had to be draped too. I wished I could have gotten the zebra striped one. Andrew really made a statement with that one. He was so happy during the haircut, looking at himself in the mirror, clapping his hands, jabbering away.



Here's after. He looks more like a toddler and less like a baby, which is scary and a little sad. But he's cute regardless, so I think this was a success.

Christmas...

Christmas was fun, in short. I don't have a lot of pictures, because I was mainly enjoying the moment, but here are a few.

Aubrey got her bike from Santa, and was so excited, she just kept repeating, "I knew it! I knew it!" that Santa would bring her one. I'm personally glad he did because she had prayed a few nights prior, "please make sure Santa brings me a bicycle, a pink one." So she was thrilled with this bike and has taken it for several spins around the neighborhood.





Brother liked his toys, but as expected, liked the wrapping paper and boxes better, as well as everyone else's presents. But here he is, smiling the same cheesy grin his dad used to give for the camera as a boy. Aubrey was more than willing to help Andrew unwrap all his presents-- this particular one was, I think, Mickey's Book of Trucks... combining several of Andrew's favorite things... books, trucks, and the option for making truck noises. This book from the dollar store has already gotten a lot of mileage.



A homemade Cinderella dress made by my mom also was a hit. Aub's cousin Heidi got a Sleeping Beauty one. They made very pretty princesses.



Ratatouille also was an exciting present for Aubrey, as we had met Emile in person at Disneyworld a month ago, without first seeing the movie he starred in.



This next series of pictures are not exactly flattering, but this was so ridiculous, I just wanted to post them. My sister Ashley was in India all semester doing research, and she brought back lots of exciting gifts for us all, including these fabulous nightgowns for her sisters. We wanted to get our picture taken in them, but we wanted it to be authentic Indian, which meant that we could not smile in them, since the people of India don't generally smile in photos. (I hope I'm getting this right, Ashley). So, getting my three sisters and my mom all to not smile at the same time was not as easy it it seems, especially when you had Chad taking the pictures and doing ridiculous things to thwart our efforts at non-smily faces. The very first one was maybe the best one, but then once one person started laughing, it was hard not to. I don't think we ever got one with all of us at the same time, but a valiant effort was made by all.

I'm glad I didn't ask for peace on earth

Recent Conversation at our house:

Aubrey: What do you want for Christmas mom?
Me: Oh, I think I would like a happy family-- you know, everyone be nice to each other.
Aubrey: Well, you're not going to get that! It's too hard! How about some pots and pans?

The stars have aligned

I have been anticipating running a 5K race, my first one ever, for about a month now. So when I got this fortune in my fortune cookie on Thursday, I took it as a good omen...



I figured the stars had aligned for me to run a good race. But then last night when I couldn't find the shirt I wanted to wear, my favorite Doerre Warriors t-shirt with an Indian head on the front, I started to doubt. Luckily, I had another favorite shirt, the one with my dad's head on it, to wear. I tucked my fortune paper into my shoe so I could remember to outdistance all competitors while runnning.

Today was race day. I decided I wanted a low-key 5K for my first time, so we ran the Woodlands 5K they do every 2nd and 4th Saturday of the month. Here I am with some friends who consented to run with me, at the starting line. And just for the record, I heard from so many people, "if it's your first 5K, start at the back." Well, I am NOT starting at the back next time, even if it means people will have to run around me. Because, then you're at the back!



Here I am at the beginning of the race. Does it look like I am out distancing all competitors? I really wanted to run fast, but I was trying not to start out too fast so I wouldn't be pooped out later. My main goals for the race were to 1) run the whole way (not too hard to do) and 2) not come in last (maybe a little harder).



Here I am near the end of the race... I was pretty happy to almost be done, because it was a little harder than I thought it would be on account of the fact that I have eaten a few too many cookies this week and not run as many miles.



Okay, so I did not outdistance all competitors, but I ran the whole way and I didn't come in last. (I was 35 out of 42, I think. So there's room for improvement.) I smiled and had a good time. I have not been a runner-- the most I've ever run was the 400 M in junior high track. I have only become a runner as of recent, for many reasons. And now I enjoy it. And so this was a big deal for me. I have signed up for a 10K in March and I really would like to run a half marathon if I can find one. But before I do that, I need to get some real running shorts instead of my ghetto cut off sweatpants, and find my Doerre Warriors t-shirt.



Yay! We did it!

Need some space

I just need a little space right here..............................................











to right down here.

A Mother's Heart

To my family and friends: Today marks one month from the day my precious baby girl was born. I have not blogged in this period of time, because, how do you write about something so dear to your heart somewhere so impersonal as the world wide web? I have felt the need to recognize this event in my life, by writing about it, by blogging about it, but have struggled to find the correct way to do so. I want to blog about other things as well... our recent trip to Disney World, our preparations for Christmas, other exciting things, but feel like before I do that, I need to recognize Caitlyn's brief appearance in my life on, my blog, a place where I have recorded all other important happenings in my life. So, with that said, I am posting portions of something I wrote a week after Caitlyn's birth, while visting the garden area where she is buried. Please know this writing is more for myself and the reverence which I have for this experience than for any of my readers, but thank you to any and all of who do take the time to read it.

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Tuesday, November 6, 2007

Dear baby Caitlyn,

Today, we visit your gravesite, where your precious little body lay. We didn't plan it this way, but you were born almost exactly one week ago today. How our world has changed from one week ago. There is another man here, visiting a headstone, cleaning the grass and pine needles off, and I hope I will come here often, to take care of your special and holy spot, with time. Oh, how we love you and were awaiting your arrival. Aubrey was so excited to have a baby sister she could teach to be girly and such the princess she is. She was planning on showing you all there was to know about being a girl. Andrew, he wasn't going to know what hit him, and was probably just going to grab at your eyelashes and pat you on the head like he does so often to us. Your daddy was looking so forward to holding you and loving you, his second precious daughter. He has a special spot in his heart for his little girls. He was looking forward to holding you in his arms and singing softly to you when you cried. There were a thousand things we had in mind for you. And me, your mother, how I enjoyed feeling so connected to you! You moved so much, so frequently, and though maybe I pretended to complain, in my heart I rejoiced every time I felt you kick. I felt so connected to you and felt so much love for you. How excited I was to finally have you in my arms, to wrap my arms around you, and know that I knew you better than anyone, and know that I could comfort your when you cried, and enjoy the moments with you as a tiny newborn. Our family had so much love for you! We waited so anxiously for your arrival, "after Christmas and before Valentine's Day." We weren't really expecting you, so soon after Andrew, your sweet, loving older brother, but I knew you were coming, from very very early on. I'm grateful to have had so much time to get to know you. And we still await you, though it will be a longer time, but I know, I will someday have the opportunity to wrap my arms around you, and give you all the love in my heart, which is great. I hope you are waiting on the other side, that you are as anxious as I to meet. I feel like I know you, in a small way, and grateful for the chance to have forever to learn more. You are so special, baby Cait, and so precious. So close to my heart, now and always. I don't know why we were chosen to be the guardians or your little body, but I am grateful beyond words we could provide that to you. I am happy in my heart to know that gaining a body is part of Heavenly Father's plan for us, and that you were able to complete that part of your progression. As I looked at your little body after you were delivered, I marvelled at how perfect you were- everything from your ears down to your ten tiny toes with even smaller toenails. I thought to myself, "now I know what perfection really is." Even though you had so much growing left to do, which we would have loved to have been part of, for many years. But now I know your growth will be on the other side of the veil.

I am so grateful to you, Caitlyn- to have been a part of our lives for a brief time, and to be the means of teaching to us, and helping us learn the beauty and the simplicity of the gospel. I know we will see you again, and I'm grateful that we have eternity- that's it's not just a few months, but forever that you are ours...

I know that Heavenly Father loves me dearly, because I was able to carry and bear you... truly Caitlyn, you are a gift. I love you so much...

And so, I feel immense peace. I look forward to that day that I can give you an even greater measure of love, from me, your mom. How I rejoice at the thought. Our family has so much love in our hearts for you. Me, your daddy, your sister Aubrey and brother Andrew. We love you. I hope you know, and think you do. Being worthy of together as a family with you is what I most fervently desire.

With all my heart,
mom
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Boy oh Boy

Never a dull moment in our household, what with this one year old around.

Today, Andrew knocked over the trash can this morning and rifled through the trash before I found him, unashamed, and eating crumbs and other things he found in the mess. After that, he knocked over the lamp in our family room, which fell on top of him. Later this afternoon, he crawled onto the porch and tried unsuccessfully to catch an ant in his tiny pincer grasp as it ran in its uncoordinated way on the bricks on our front porch. Apparently he hadn't gotten his fill of bugs because later this evening, he tried again to catch a bug, this time a spider, that was in our laundry room. He almost got it too, and I'm glad he didn't, because I fear it would have gone down the hatch. I allow him to eat a lot of things, but gumming a live spider in his mouth was too much for me to condone. Sheesh, he's ringing in his first year with messes and bugs. Just you wait, in another couple years, he's going to be the boy who eats mud and has a frog in his pocket.

p.s.

I'm sorry my friends, the video will have to wait until blogger can handle such a cute video, which, right now, it appears it can not.

I'm the Birthday Boy!

I, Andrew, the birthday boy, had a great day today. It was a day of favorites for me. I woke up and ate pancakes, my favorite breakfast. I played with my mom, and with my musical instruments, especially the cymbals, my favorite toy. I streaked around the house in what else, my birthday suit! Since this is a g-rated blog, you don't get to see that part of my day. But my birthday suit is my favorite outfit. I made a big mess with the toilet paper. My mom didn't exactly let me do that, but she didn't shut the door to the bathroom, so I figured it was as good as permission. My favorite thing to do is make a mess. I opened a birthday card from my great grandpa and grandma. The paper was really yummy, probably my favorite non-food food item. I ate pizza for dinner, and made a mess. I opened presents, which brought on many "extreme happiness" faces from me. My favorite toys are ones that make noise and light up, and so the Sports Center I got, along with the John Deere tractor and the blocks which I banged together like my cymbals, were really great toys to add to my collection. My mom is so happy to have boy toys in our house now! The best part of my whole day was when I got to eat my cake, which was decorated like a baseball, because I love any kind of ball. You can see from the video that I quite enjoyed myself. I love making messes, especially with my food. And I not only enjoyed destroying and eating my cake, I relished every moment. I made a very very big mess and that made me happy. You can tell how happy I was when you watch the video. I took a bath, another favorite thing to do, and then I went to bed, happy as could be. I think this was the best birthday I've ever had. Well, it was the only birthday I've ever had, except for when I was actually born, but anyway, it was a great way to begin my new, one-year-old life. Happy Birthday to me!

This is revealing...

It is very revealing to me where my sweet baby boy Andrew goes to find me, when I step away from view. Today, he first checked the kitchen, and nope, when I wasn't in there eating, he came to the bathroom, where he found me. Ahh, the life of a pregnant mommy...

Calling all baby namers

I am looking for girl name suggestions. Chad doesn't like any of the names I have suggested so far, and I'm pretty sure I have suggested at least 20 now. And I don't like any of the names he has suggested, which total 2. I'm not necessarily looking for A names, but not opposed to them either. So, all you friends out in the blogging world, how did you choose your children's names? What name suggestions do you have for me? Is there anywhere online I can go to help me choose a good name that's not a huge baby name book? There may be a prize in store for the person who suggests a name we actually use. But we need some ideas, please.

A vice of mine, and Chad's response.

I like ice cream. A lot. And I often feel like the day isn't complete unless I eat some ice cream after the kids go to bed. I have this bad habit of giving myself a sense of entitlement to ice cream or some other dessert (though it usually IS ice cream) after I've had a long day of parenting alone. This is a bad habit, I know. I often justify it though, only half seriously, because I don't drink a lot of milk, and so I feel like I have to get my calcium in somehow. So, ice cream is usually my route of choice to fulfill that requirement. (And whoever it was that thought up the slogan, "Calci-YUM" was a brilliant mind). This need for calcium has increased now that I'm pregnant, as has my desire to eat ice cream by the pint. The unfortunate thing (or maybe it's fortunate, depending on how you look at it) is Chad doesn't often see my indulgences. Tonight was an exception, because he was home unseasonably early, at about 6:00, and after we put the kids to bed, and I did the dishes and took care of things for tomorrow, I sat down with my ice cream. I actually decided to have some pumpkin pie too, as the desserts in our house are beginning to pile up and need to be taken care of before they go bad. So, when Chad saw me sit down with the last piece of pie, (okay, it might have fed two people), and some ice cream, which I had put in the pie plate as well, (purely to save myself doing more dishes by not using a bowl, I assure you), he was amused. I pretended not to notice. He himself had already eaten a piece of cake. But when I finished the pie and started into the ice cream, he asked innocently, "having a little dessert?" and I explained, yes, I needed my calcium, and also I needed to up my intake of vegetables, which justifies the pumpkin in the pie. (Okay, I was stretching it, I know). "I'm just following the FGP," I said, referring to the Food Guide Pyramid. Chad, ever the comedian, knowing full well what I meant, pretended not to know, and asked, "what is that? The Fat Girl Program?" and went away laughing. I glared at him and thought to myself "yes! The Fat Girl Program! It's also known as PREGNANCY, and you helped, thank you very much." But I said nothing. I just helped myself to some more mint chocolate chip. Fat Girl Program, indeed.

Somebody's Happy

Andrew is far from the only one happy in our house, but he has special reason to rejoice because:



We got our new car! Meaning, he no longer has to suffer through the heat of the day facing backwards in a car without AC. This is really quite exciting.



Actually, I was so happy, I kept laughing out loud when I drove it for the first time: Our lovely 3.8 Liter V6 engine roared to life and accelerated quickly with ease, and I didn't need to let up off the gas for the car to shift like I did with Cletus. I opened both sliding doors with the push of a button. I listened to a CD in our CD player, and most importantly to Andrew, I adjusted the AC in the back to blow cool air on him and Aubrey. I might have laughed the happiest when Aubrey called to me, "Mommy, I'm COLD!" like she'd never experienced that before in the backseat, which in fact, she probably hadn't. Aubrey enjoyed pushing the button to open her door and actually got in trouble by her dad after she repeatedly opened and closed it.





Behind Aubrey and Andrew's captain's chairs, we have ample room in the backseat, which, when not in use, can fold flat into the floor. This is the front console, which at first, I had no idea how anything worked. One of the cool features of this car is the ability to drive with the transmission in manual mode. Not that we would ever do that, but it's fun to know we could.



With this mirror, I am able to see who's smacking who in the backseat without turning around.



And although Andrew and Aubrey are happy, I may be the most happy of all. I really feel like I am driving a luxury car. After Chad drove it home last night, I didn't get to drive it, and I kept waking up in the night, thinking about how cool it was that we had a new car. And also, I wanted to drive it. So today, we have been driving around, enjoying our new car. Aubrey saw me taking pictures and wanted to take a couple herself, and so here is Happy Mom:



Yay! We have a new car!

And I didn't even get to say goodbye!

Well, it's official. Cletus is gone.

On Saturday, our neighborhood held a community garage sale, and we had some things to sell. Well, as we have been looking for a new van, we decided on a whim to put our current van, Cletus, on the street during the garage sale, just to see what would happen. To my surprise, we had several people look at it, and one person left money and told us he'd come back the next day to pick it up. I kept thinking to myself, somewhat incredulously, "we just sold the van?!?" And sure enough, when I came home from choir practice on Sunday, it wasn't in the garage. It is no longer the property of our family. It now belongs to Julio. We did in fact, sell our van. And I can't believe it was that easy. I had in my head visions of us trying for weeks, even months, trying to sell our car. And so, when I looked in the garage and all that was left was the piece of cardboard on the floor where we caught the drips from the car, I shed a tear or two for not seeing our beloved van in its designated spot. I say that the van was our beloved vehicle, but in all honesty, we had a love hate relationship, with the latter predominating most of the time. We have had to constantly fix things with it over the past two or three years and most recently, spent more than its value fixing the transmission back in January. And over the summer, I practically gave myself and my children heat stroke every time we rode in the car during the day because we didn't have dual AC, and it didn't blow strongly or very cold. So, along with the tears I really did shed, I also breathed a sigh of relief. Not that we didn't love our van... it was our first car, it's been in several different states, taken us on many fun vacations, and brought our children home from the hospital. It's been a good car to us and it owes us nothing. So, thanks for the good times, Cletus. I can't exactly say, "we'll miss you," because probably we won't miss you all that much. And Julio, we hope you love our van as much as we did.

Pushing my buttons

Am I really ready for another girl?

We did not have a good day today. Aubrey misbehaved and yelled at me and her brother, and it took twice or three times of me asking her to do something before she would actually do it. Neither one of us were very happy by the day's end and in so attempt to make amends, I volunteered to put her hair in sponge rollers so she could have curly hair. She was excited, and I thought we might end the day on a positive note, until I hear her singing, very quietly, "I don't even like my mom, I don't even like my mom, I don't even like my mom," to the tune of "Bingo." So apparently, she was still experiencing some negative feelings and this was how she would let me know. You can imagine how that little song made me feel, but luckily, I pulled an Aubrey and pretended like I didn't hear. I forgot how girls can be manipulative like that. So, am I ready to have two little girls who do that? It's a scary thought.

Fortunately, I have a small sampling of funny things that she has said recently, that are not hurtful, that have allowed me to remember how funny, sweet and innocent she really is:

"I'm allergic to going to sleep"
"How many more years of school do I have left?" (after not wanting to go to school that day)
"I was born in 2002. What year was Jesus born?"

And this last one, if anyone knows, please feel free to share:

"How do cows make chocolate milk?"